Springtime Panfish-Perch, Crappie, and Bluegill
Springtime Panfish

Spring is in full swing here in Iowa, and what can be more pleasant a reminder than the sound of birds, the sight of flowers blooming, and the feel of a warm afternoon? I can think of at least one more thing…Panfish!

Spring is in full swing here in Iowa, and what can be more pleasant a reminder than the sound of birds, the sight of flowers blooming, and the feel of a warm afternoon? I can think of at least one more thing…Panfish! The next order of business was to hunt for worms. Flipping anything that we could find stuck in the ground in hopes of just finding a few crawlers.

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Springtime Panfish

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Adding Sweeteners to Food Plots

Adding Sweeteners to Food Plots: Whitetails 365

Adding Sweeteners to Food Plots: Whitetails 365 I don’t know that I have a single stand placed for archery hunting that is without some kind of what I call a sweetener. This might be unimpressive if I had only one or two, but I have dozens of stands across five different farms that I plan […]

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Bait Rigs that Catch Fish

Bait Rigs that Catch Fish If you were to go out and ask a dozen anglers what their favorite live bait rig is for any number of species you’ll likely get a dozen different answers. Now it may not be a dozen different baits, but certainly a variety of ways to rig those said baits. […]

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Iowa Trout Grand Slam

Iowa Trout Grand Slam

Iowa Trout Grand Slam Brace yourselves. Those of you unaware that Iowa has fishable trout populations may be in for a shock. Not only DOES Iowa have fishable trout populations in the northeast corner of the state…some of which do NOT rely on regular stocking to maintain their population…but Iowa actually has THREE species of […]

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My 5 Best Largemouth Tips

My 5 Best Largemouth Tips The largemouth bass, the most familiar fish in the country lives all around us.  No matter if you fish a farm pond, a local river, county park, one of the 100’s of man-made lakes around Iowa, or the Mighty Mississippi River, the largemouth bass is waiting for you.  Typically we […]

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Featured Story

Big Buck Profile: The 2025 Gandy Buck

Ok, this first big buck profile is a little self-serving in that it is of a buck that I personally took this past deer season. While it is likely not the “biggest” big buck that we will profile this year it is definitely one of my most special deer ever.

Turning a Dream into Reality

As has been noted in several articles since 2023, my family and I finally put together the means to purchase our very own piece of Iowa ground. “The 32,” as we call it, has become a passion project to see if we could take an unassuming piece of real estate and harvest a mature deer from there by giving him all he needs in the way of habitat. This year was the first year that the farm would be huntable in the state in which we intended due to construction projects over the past couple of seasons.

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The Iowa Sportsman website and magazine are Iowa’s only privately owned media sources catering to hunters, anglers, and outdoor enthusiasts here in Iowa. Simply put, we are unlike other Iowa outdoor media sources: All our staff is from Iowa, from our publisher to our writers. We actually follow through on what we advertise; we provide knowledgeable content from people who know the industry or sport discussed.